


Like Lightning

by dontlookback



Category: Outer Banks (TV)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Getting Together, M/M, One Shot, do i look like i know how to tag, its angsty but soft in the end, we need more jj/pope fics please and thank you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-28
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:33:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23900866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontlookback/pseuds/dontlookback
Summary: It's crazy what seeing someone fall of a roof can do to you. Flap out your feelings and kiss the someone, for example.
Relationships: JJ/Pope (Outer Banks)
Comments: 26
Kudos: 321





	Like Lightning

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for checking this out! you can also find it on tumblr since it was for a request there (or just come screaming about outer banks to me), you can find me @the-pogues, but i loved this a lot and it became quite long so i'm posting it here too x first of many fics, i hope!

The door is thrown open hard enough that it collides with a cabinet standing on the other side. John B had said he wouldn't be back until later and so JJ, sprawled out on the worn-out couch, previously in peace, looks up, startled.

It's not John B, which makes sense, but instead Pope, which actually might make less sense. Pope is not typically the most door-slamming person. JJ and John B share that title.

"Having a good day?" JJ comments, too sarcastic to be of any use to Pope, who looks dishevelled and a little confused to find JJ here without John B. It is, after all, John B's house they're in.

He looks a little lost and JJ would find it amusing if he didn't also look like he could start crying any minute. JJ can't pinpoint the moment he started liking Pope more than a friend should; it had been more of a gradual thing. Somehow, John B introducing him to this other kid on the playground had, over the years, lead to a crush. He'd written it off at first, thinking it was something he'd forget about in a few weeks' time.

He didn't forget about it in a few weeks' time, nor a few months'. It was getting ridiculous, really.

"What happened, dude?" JJ frowns. He gets up from the couch, his mind going straight to the Kooks and who he'd have to kill. He hated seeing any of his friends hurt, but seeing Pope looking as lost as he does hits different, heavier.

Pope ignores the question and instead says, "Where are the the others?" and, okay, that hurts a little, too. JJ knows he's not the best when it comes to comforting someone, because he hardly knows how to. He even kind of wishes John B or Kie were here, because they would actually know what to say. Still, he wishes Pope would not only be okay with _John B and Kie and JJ_ , but just with _JJ_ , sometimes. They never hang out, anymore, not without the others around.

"Kie had to take an extra shift because they're low on staff, or whatever, so John B's helping out, too."

"Oh."

The _oh_ , somewhat disappointed and definitely uncomfortable, pretty much sums it up. It also makes JJ feel even worse, so he doesn't say anything for a moment, and neither does Pope, and they let the silence wash over them for a minute or two.

It's Pope who talks again, first. "I fucked up chem."

JJ looks at Pope again after carefully avoiding eye contact, and only now notices Pope might actually be crying. Despite everything being awkward, JJ instinctively steps into Pope's space and pulls him in for a hug. Pope hugs back after only a second, and they stay in silence again for a little while. Pope is crying - not heavily, it's not like he's sobbing all over the place, but JJ can feel a few tears hit his shirt.

Tears about a chemistry test, apparently. JJ doesn't get it, but he does get that Pope cares about his grades in a way JJ never has.

He leans back a little. "Hey, don't sweat it, bro. Everyone fucked up chem. That test was impossible, even with cheating." He adds, "I didn't even know the grades were out yet - what'd you get?"

"They're not out yet, but I know I fucked it up. Fuck, I fucked it up so bad, I couldn't remember anything and - and I can't get below a C, I really can't, it'll fuck it all up and then I'll never be able to get that scholarship. Fuck."

JJ is at a loss on how to reply to that, and so he doesn't. He just wipes Pope's tears away, and it feels oddly intimate, so to break the tension, he pats Pope's cheek and says the first thing he thinks of. "You just need to chill for a moment. I'm pretty sure there's a party near Figure Eight, we should totally go. It's lowkey, so you don't have to stress out, golden boy."

Pope somehow agrees. The party is not lowkey.

JJ is wondering, now, why he hadn't gone in the first place, but he guesses if he hadn't, Pope would've stormed into an empty house, and that would have been a real waste of a dramatic entrance. All with all, it's probably for the best.

Right now, though, it's JJ and Pope at a party, together, without John B or Kie anywhere near, and it's a bit strange. JJ missed hanging out with Pope without the others, but now that they are, it feels too personal. It feels like Pope could take one look at him and see all his thoughts, including all the ones about Pope that sounded like they belonged in the diary of a thirteen-year-old girl with a celebrity crush. _Ugh, his eyes are so beautiful. I wish I had a chance._

There was only one thing that could fix this, now: getting piss drunk.

JJ goes to get drinks and when he has made his way back, he hardly even has to give Pope one of the cups, let alone convince him. Pope downs it in one go, and JJ knows John B and Kie would've been shooting concerned looks by now, but he's pretty much in awe.

They get more drinks. It doesn't take very long for them to be tipsy. They're having fun. Good old-fashioned fun, nothing annoying new feelings or awkward silences. Just fun.

Pope crosses the line from tipsy to drunk before JJ does, somehow. He seems more relaxed than ever, but he's also more there, suddenly, than he was before. An arm around the shoulder, a sarcastic pat on the cheek, grabbing a wrist to tug him along - JJ's going insane. It's not that he minds Pope being all over him, not at all, but it's the timing that irks him. This is nothing more than Pope being affectionate because he's had one to many beers. It's not real in the way JJ has wanted it to be for ages, now, and that makes it plain painful.

He gets away by saying he's going to get them more drinks, but he somehow feels more sober than before he started drinking.

When he gets back, Pope isn't there, and JJ can't fucking find him anywhere. Two red cups with shitty beer more but one Pope less is not a very good deal, and all he can think of as he works his way through the crowds is how drunk Pope really is and how much could go horribly wrong. Not for the first time that night, he wishes John B and Kie were there to fix some of his mess. So he had more people to blame than himself.

After half an hour of panic-checking every near inch of the beach, JJ bumps into his guardian fucking angel, apparently. His name is Jeff and JJ knows him from class, and he's a fucking asshole, but JJ quite literally bumps into him and somehow, it turns into a conversation.

"Guess that friend of yours isn't such a stuck-up as we thought he was, huh?"

"What? Pope? Did you see him?"

"I didn't, but a buddy of mine told me he's standing on the roofs of those houses they're building. Guess he can't be as tight-wound as he seems, he's totally pissed, apparently. Wouldn't surprise me if he falls off the roof, breaks an arm or-"

JJ doesn't pick up most of what Jeff says, because as soon as he hears about the houses, he's gone. He shoves the two red cups he's still holding into some girl's hands as he rushes to the houses. Even from a distance, he can see a vague figure in the dark standing on top of them. Shit.

Getting to the houses is a blur, climbing up on autopilot as he and John B and Kie and Pope have done several times, now. It's a cool place to hang out, usually. Less cool when Pope is balancing on the edge. It's not like he would throw himself off over a chemistry test, JJ knows that for certain, but an accidental drunken misstep is easier made than not.

Shit, even JJ's having trouble staying balanced once he's up on the roof, and he's basically sober at this point.

"Pope!" he only half-yells, not wanting to startle Pope. It doesn't work - Pope turns around a tad too fast, and he slips and JJ can see a moment of shock in his eyes and then he slips off the edge.

JJ's heart stops.

There's only silence for a moment, a faint beat from the bass of a shitty song going through the air and the even fainter sound of kids laughing in the distance.

And then, "JJ?"

And abruptly, his heart starts up again. He turns on his phone's flashlight and walks over the roof as fast as he can without falling, until he can see Pope, sitting on the balcony. JJ didn't even know these houses were getting balconies. Must've been build between the last time they were here and now.

Balconies are useless spaces you won't find on the Cut, but JJ has never been so glad for Kooks to want their houses to have useless fucking balconies. Because, well, Pope is sitting right there. Bruised and scarped, JJ is sure, but alive and well.

"Pope, fuck, did you break anything?"

"I wo- I don't think so," Pope says, staring up at him. He wiggles his fingers in demonstration.

JJ exhales for what feels like the first time in minutes. "I'm coming down, okay? Don't move."

He's about to start going back down to get to Pope when Pope speaks again, slurring his words a little. "D'ya.. do you know that if I fuck'd up chemistry, I fucked up my life?"

And really, JJ can't go away after that, even if only for a few moments, because Pope sounds _so_ sad. "No, okay, no, that's not true. You're... drunk, and you're not thinking straight. It'll all be okay, okay?"

"No. No, I'm barely drunk, and it's true. It's true, JJ. Without good grades I won't get the scholarship and if - if i don't get the scholarship, I'm going to end up doing shitty jobs for the Kooks. I'll have to - to clean Japanese toilets, or something. I'll be a Japanese toilet cleaner and then my dad will be disappointed and not even. Not even care anymore."

It takes JJ a moment to figure out what the hell he's talking about, but he does remember Kie complaining about the people in these houses getting Japanese toilets, whatever that might mean. He also knows Pope's dad well enough to know that although he can be a bit harsh sometimes, he would never stop caring for Pope.

"That's not true, okay? Your dad... he cares for you more than anything. Nothing can change that."

There's a silence.

"What about you, then?" Pope's voice sounds smaller, somehow. "Will you... care, if I fuck it all up?"

JJ laughs. He can't help it, because it's insane how Pope just nearly died, and yet iss somehow worrying about if _JJ_ , of all people, would care, still, if he fucked up a test. "Pope, I could never stop caring about you. None of us care about your grades. John B, Kie, me, we - we care about you. I care so much it hurts, sometimes." He says it before he really realises it.

"Me, too," Pope says from below. "Too much. Too much for a friend to care. And I know the rules, no Pogue on Pogue action, and - I know you're into girls and even if you weren't, you wouldn't like me, but sometimes-"

JJ's heart feels like it's about to explode. "Pope, shut up, I'm coming down. Don't move, okay?" he cuts the other off, and before he can change his mind, he's getting off the roof the same side he came up, and he's rushing through the empty house towards the balcony.

He slams the glass door that leads to the balcony hard enough that it collides with the outside wall, and Pope is still sitting there, on the concrete floor. JJ sinks down to his knees and does the only thing he can think of doing - he lays his hands on Pope's neck and pulls him in, and they kiss. It's everything the films make it out to be, sparks and fireworks and what not. It's getting struck by lighting and when they break apart, it's the energy soaring through them still.

"I care, too, Pope. Too much for a friend."

And because he cares, because they both care, the next thing they do is get to John B's place, somehow. They fall asleep on the shitty worn-out couch, _together_. The kiss is repeated the next day, many times, just with a little less alcohol and a little less falling off roofs. It feels like lightning every time.

Pope scores a B+ for his chemistry test. He got the bonus question right.


End file.
